Eco-socioeconomies: Analysis of experiences in the west of the United States of America

Abstract

The objective of this article is to perform a comparative analysis of ten experiences with eco-socioeconomics dimensions in the western territory of the United States of America. The methodology is structured around the bibliographical and documentary review, exploratory study, and field research. The experiences have hybrid characteristics in relation to the eco-socioeconomics modalities and are classified as corporate socio-environmental responsibility, cooperativism, municipal public management, conservation unit management, socio-political movement, città slow and ecovillages. The results suggest that in the North American experiences observed there is a correlation between instrumental and substantive action, but not reduced to the sphere of economics when it presents a merely mercantile conception, disconnected from the other dimensions of the sphere of life, good living, and sustainability. It concludes that the instrumentality of human action persists and becomes necessary at the time when the intergenerational scale is understood. Although the experiences are comparative, they consist of unique territories, which suggest that each territory has a genesis that distinguishes it.